Starting from March of this year, when the number of foreigners who temporarily visited Armenia and lived here increased dramatically, they also brought with them partly work income and partly savings which they use to resolve residence issues. Tigran Khachatryan, Minister of Finance, told this to reporters in the National Assembly Monday.

"It affects the exchange rate change. You know that the exchange rate is not managed at us; supply and demand determine the exchange rate. Now the supply is significantly higher than the demand, therefore, the [Armenia] dram has increased in value against the [US] dollar," he said.

"There is high inflation in the world—also caused by the increase in international food prices. This phenomenon also affects the rather high inflationary background in Armenia. If there were no deterrent effect of the dram’s increase in value, inflation [in Armenia] would have been more than it is," Khachatryan emphasized.

Reflecting on the two-digit indicator of Armenia’s economic activity, the finance minister noted that it is not artificial.

"There are many uncertainties which are mainly due to the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and which have been formed during these past months, on the one hand, due to the significant influx of people to Armenia—including people specialized in the high-tech sector who have jobs, stable incomes, and due to this, a foreign currency inflow has occurred [in Armenia]—, and on the other hand, money transfers to Armenia have increased, which also affect the increase in the overall consumption amount; they have generated some economic activeness [in Armenia]. In the sum of nine months, we have an economic activity exceeding 14 percent," he said.

But the finance minister disagrees with the concern that economic activeness is not felt in Armenia’s provinces, and he noted that the main visitors are in Yerevan, and naturally, consumption increases more in the capital.